The Martinique carnival was born during the colonization at Saint-Pierre, which was the biggest city on the island. It was a mixture of the African and European cultures.
Originally, the Carnival dates back to the Middle Ages. To suppress the pagan ideas and traditions, the Catholic Church under duress and for fear of the creation of a new less restrictive religion, cultures the Mardi Gras which is the rite of the celebration of Spring.
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Mardi Gras was therefore the day of celebrations, public dances, costumes, and other festivities that fully celebrated European Christians. In addition, all kinds of meat menus were consumed without moderation.
Its position in the calendar, the day before Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lent, the period of fasting and prayers was the last day you could eat fat until Easter. This day will become the Carnival from the Latin carnelevarium which means removal of meat.
The beginning of the Carnival in Martinique
The Carnival from settlers to slaves
Carnival arrives in Martinique with the French Catholic settlers around the 17th century. From the tradition they had in Europe, they impregnated the African slaves from the slave ships. Once settled on the plantations, the masters invited family and friends of their rank to commemorate Carnival according to European traditions imported to the West Indies. Lavish receptions with abundant food were shared among the elite of the day. Guests arrived masked and dressed in luxurious attire.
Further, in their neighborhoods, near their wood houses, slaves repeated this settlers’ tradition, trying to copy their masters while keeping their traditional costumes as they were made in Africa. The drum was introduced, and the slaves danced with the timing of this instrument they used formerly in their festivals.
Finally, the festivities were very different depending on the social status of the person celebrating the carnival. For while carnival was a reception in the home of the white settlers, it was a procession, a costumed parade combining dance and music in the slave quarters of the master’s plantation. It was forbidden to leave the master’s property. Carnival was banned several times for slaves, however, as masters couldn’t bear to see slaves running through the streets and celebrating with cutlasses, sticks and other work tools.
At the end of slavery, the entire population dances together and celebrates Carnival, which has become a festivity that the whole island has made its own. Thus,
Creoles, whatever their color, are great lovers of music and dance. You must see them […] on carnival day. To the sound of a plaintive chant, with a dropping phrase and repeated without intermittence with a few variations, the innumerable procession of men and women marches in time, holding each other’s hands, giving each other their arms, separating, uniting according to the movements of this uneven dance, in the midst of cries, songs, laughter, in an endless intoxication.”
Note that the Carnival was banned during the First World War as well as the patronal festivals which patriotic festivals have replaced. It would have been frowned upon for the inhabitants of the French colonies to rejoice in the streets while the nation was at war and likewise, popular gatherings did not guarantee the safety of the participants.
A popular success
The carnival was a great success in the 19th century in particular around the end of the period. Popular parades were organized in Saint Pierre, the capital and largest city of Martinique until 1902 and the eruption of Mount Pelee. Carnival will not be commemorated several years later, and resume at Fort-de-France, the new capital of Martinique.
From then on, the carnival’s reputation spread to many Caribbean islands and the South American continent via the three Guyanas (French Guiana, Guyana and Surinam). The characters of the Saint-Pierre carnival were recreated in Fort-de-France based on the multicultural heritage that characterized Creole society at the time, as well as on social facts and customs in vogue at the time (trades, regional or international current events).
Characters of the Martinique Carnival
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Thus, appear the different characters of the Martinique Carnival:
– Sa Majesté Vaval (His Majesty Vaval), the giant puppet, King of Carnival will lead the parade bus and the parade. It is either a character, a true story, a political fact, or about local national or international news. Prepared several months in advance in the greatest secrecy, it appears on the Shrove Sunday parade head after a confection made in great secrecy by various associations of the city. During all the Shrovetide, it will be celebrated and honored until Ash Wednesday night, he is burned in a square, close to the Bay of Fort de France, the Malecon.
– The Diable Rouge (Red Devil) comes directly from Africa. The mask was manufactured using various materials and recycled objects like mirrors and inspired by harvest masks from Casamance, a region of southern Senegal. It wears bovine horns and reveals only the eyes. They are honored on Mardi Gras which is sometimes called Red Devils Day.
– The Guiablesse is the grieving widow of King Vaval. It appears only on Ash Wednesday dressed in Black and White, came crying Vaval to be cremated on Wednesday evening at the end of Carnival.
– The coupeur de canne (cane cutter) is a character that dates back to Carnaval 1849, the year following the abolition of slavery. The former slaves dressed up as former slaves to ridicule their former job as cane cutters. The cane cutter is less and less present in today’s processions. Note that even during the slave era, slaves sometimes dressed up like their masters just to make fun of them.
– The nèg Gwo Siwo is a character, like the cane cutter, symbolizing the slaves. Brushed with cane syrup mixed with charcoal, they scare off the crowds. They have remained trendy with part of the Haitian community, which is very active in the various carnival parades.
– The “Touloulous” once very present in the parades of Saint-Pierre disappeared in Fort-de-France before returning recently through local associations. Very popular in French Guiana, the Touloulou who wears a mask reminiscent of Carnival in Venice, symbolizes the domineering woman, superior in her hierarchy to the man.
– Clay Men are the Pottery workers of Trois-Ilets, one of the oldest companies in Martinique currently still active.
– Karolyn zyé Kokli is a woman carrying on her back her alcoholic husband every night on his shoulders. The weight of the latter is squinting her eyes.
– The mokozombies are stilt men that disappeared gradually during the Martinique Carnival but you can find them in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, or the Carnival of Paris.
– Finally, Maryan Lapo fig comes straight to the Saint-Pierre Carnival, and the 19th century. According to legend, a circus representation in the city of Saint-Pierre would have seen his bear to escape. Not to disappoint the audience, a woman disguised as a bear with a costume using dried banana leaves to fill the missing bear. Maryan Lapo fig mimics the bear. It is usually accompanied by a puppeteer and a musician.
The Carnival of today in Martinique
Today, Carnival is very popular. It is also one of the most popular events each year with the Round Skiffs Tour of Martinique. If parades or vidés, a word used locally to talk about the cortege, are organized in almost all municipalities, the Carnival of Fort de France is the most popular. Note that the city of Lamentin organizes its Carnival and competes more and more in popularity with that of the capital city.
On Shrove Monday, the parade of the Carnival of Fort-de-France is dotted because the top parade is organized by the municipalities of the south of the island. The Carnival is a wonderful time where all the costumes are permitted without restraint. And new characters have gradually emerged in this Carnival, the most popular, the transvestite, a man disguised as a woman, in sometimes very daring ways.
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But what would this event be without its bands? The street bands that delight people by playing their drums, cha-chas (maracas), and other handmade instruments, are associations that are preparing all year for this event.
It is not uncommon to hear drum sounds or Carnival rhythms, off period of Carnival, evidence that these groups are in the process of repeating for Shrovetide. Carnival bands first appeared in 1975, and are a feature of the Fort-de-France Carnival, which is not a legacy of the Saint-Pierre Carnival.
Also, you should not be overlooked is the traditional “bradjacks”, very old cars decorated in a sometimes amusing way, that sometimes carry a dozen young men on their roof. They have sometimes been banned from corteges for public safety reasons but returned this time with a control, and a permit to participate in the show.
Another equally important character is the Carnival Queen, the elections take place shortly before the Shrove Days. A young girl who will be queen is elected during elections which will take place shortly before the Shrove Days. To be elected, the candidates compete by presenting themselves in an outfit made manually from recovered elements in front of a jury which will choose the most original candidate and having the best presence. There is also an election of Queen Mother, a woman aged at least 60, usually dressed in traditional attire, as well as a mini-Queen, a young person under the age of 10-12. King’s elections are much rarer. After all, Vaval is the real king of Martinique Carnival. The three generations of queens will be present on the float of the municipality which organizes the parade.
Schedule of the Carnival in Martinique
Carnival is not just in Martinique only the Shrovetide, as soon as the end of Epiphany (Three Kings Day), parades in the towns are a warm-up of Shrovetide. Carnival strictly speaking, it’s 4 days of festivities on Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday.
Carnival was supposed to end on the evening of Mardi Gras but has been extended one more day (until the evening of Ash Wednesday) with a papal exemption granted to certain Caribbean islands, and countries in South America in the mid-20th century.
Thus, Lent begins the Thursday after Ash Wednesday at midnight, and the imposition of ashes is on Friday and not on Wednesday, as is customary in Catholic countries. Note that during Shrovetide, after urban parades, carnival festivities continue in different shows in nightclubs, restaurants, casinos and other huts.
Saturday preceding the Shrovetide, Queens, Mother Queens and Mini-Queens are presented to the public in a presentation parade. Saturday is not a day of Carnival, the presentation remains something informal and recent.
Sunday is the presentation of the King Vaval in the head of the cortege, and the beginning of the festivities. The population is pilling up in the city of Fort-de-France trimmed of all types of costumes. No dress code is given and only originality is required on the first day of vidé.
Monday, the burlesque marriage (burlesque wedding) is honored. Women are disguised as men, and men as women, sometimes a bride. It is the inversion of the gender hierarchy in the couple. That day, the South Parade (the main parade of the island is organized by a municipality of the south of the island) is the event of the day. All South town Queens are present for the parade and also the major bands of the island. This parade is very popular and brews the entire population of the south of the island.
Mardi Gras is a day that starts early. Indeed, on this occasion the pyjama lévé, a morning parade that begins at 4:30 am invites everyone in its path to come to wake the other inhabitants of the town, just wearing a nightgown or pajamas. Gradually, the parade grows before all these people go home (go back to sleep?) to get ready for the great parade of the afternoon. Mardi Gras is the day out of the Red Devils frightens younger children. The colors of the day are Red and Black. Better to follow the color code because otherwise you really spot in the vidé.
Ash Wednesday is the day of mourning, a day when Carnival people are adorned with black and white, the colors of mourning in Martinique. After the parade, the Vaval of the year will be burned on the Malecon, the place bordering the Bay of Fort-de-France. His many widows, Guiablesses will weep seeing the disappearing, destroyed by fire. The festivities will continue in nightclubs until midnight, the start time of Lent.
The following Thursday must certainly be seen as the quietest day of the year, as it is quiet after the festivities that have lasted 4 days. Beware though, the dobby (wooden traps to catch crabs) are out because hunting for crabs that will be consumed at Easter is open. Yes, in Martinique, “the show must go on”!
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